Elementary students create wonderful artwork,
some with a powerful message
April 15, 2010
By Jason Misner
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, HDSB STAFF
Grade 7 Tecumseh Public School student Pearl took a small picture of a puppy and made it several times bigger, using pastels. It’s called Take Me Home.
She drew tiny cube shapes and mapped out her picture. The copy looks exactly like the original.
She also used the art as a means of creative outlet, explaining she chose a puppy to protest animal abuse.
“I’m trying to explain how sad it is for animals to suffer for no reason whatsoever,” the bright-eyed student said.
Until tomorrow (Friday, April 16), these kinds of impressive paintings, drawings and even paper mache pieces carefully crafted by scores of Halton District School Board JK-Grade 8 students will fill the gym at the New Street Education Centre (3250 New St.) in Burlington.
The board’s popular 7th annual three-day Elementary Art Show Elements and Expressions, which started Wednesday, includes dozens of interesting art pieces that dazzle the eye with creative uses of pencils, paints, pastels and paper, among a host of mediums.
The students are being shown art not just to inspire the soul but teach what art is all about.
More than 2,500 students are being whisked into the gym by bus over three days to study the art pieces and jotting down their thoughts and ideas about the piece into an art booklet. Specifically, they are assessing four categories, examining the question of how to look at art: Description, Analysis, Interpretation and Judgment.
For example, under Description, students are being asked to describe the texture in one instance.
Under Judgment, students are being asked, why is it interesting to you.
Kids huddle in groups of two, three, four and more, talking about the art before them, what they like and why.
Some knelt on the floor to scribble their answers into their booklets; other used each other’s backs to quickly write their thoughts before moving on to assess another piece. There were many smiles as rows of kids meandered through the displays to see what their fellow classmates had concocted.
The art is available for viewing by anyone in the community from 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Thursday, April 15 and Friday, April 16, as well during a viewing Thursday evening from 5-8 p.m.
Ene-Mai Fortune is one of the key organizers of the event. The educational assistant from Oakwood Public School explained there is a very important curriculum tie-in with the art show.
One of things she noticed is art incorporates a lot of math. The kind of painting Tecumseh’s Pearl made would have involved measuring her cubes to get a scaled portrait so as to avoid a distorted look.
“It amazes me how much math comes up,” Fortune said.
“I love seeing the kids come over and admire the other kids’ work.”
Overall, the Ontario government’s visual arts curriculum requires students to create 2D and 3D art using the creative process that communicates feelings, ideas and understandings. It also emphasizes critical thinking by having students reflect, respond and analyze their work and that of other artists.
The student artwork features the curriculum fundamental concepts of line, colour, texture, shape, space, value and the principals of design.
In addition to the curriculum requirements, Fortune said art is very important to one’s psyche. It enables many students the opportunity to shine in a very complex field.
“I think art is very important,” she said, stressing art, personally, has been a lifelong passion. “For me, it’s a release of emotions. It was a way for me to shine in school. (Students) need somewhere where they can shine.”